Stargazer
by randomgenius
Summary: Thousands of years passed; generations of mortal, deity, and creature all come and gone under the same sky.
1. Chiron

**Don't own, just so those who actually care don't flip out on me. This _will_ be a multi-chap fic, I'll try and update as soon as I can.**

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><p><em>For cernturies, the sky has been a point of fascination by mortals desperate to learn it's secrets. Perhaps this fervor is due to man's need for control, or it's craving to solve every mystery (kindly called curiosity). The heavens have been charted, explained, processed. Man has 'solved' them. Yet, they still hold an air of mystery; they twinkle with what seems like a condescending 'Is that all you have?'. The sky reaches back to the dawn of creation, is the giver of life and direction. It has born silent witness to what has faded in the memories of man. It lays above deity, monster, and mortal alike, a constant in this ever-changing world.<em>

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><p>Chiron had lived a long life. He had seen empires rise and fall, heroes that were like children to him charge off to battle and never return, he had seen things that were now considered vague legends unfold before his very eyes.<p>

Some nights, the centaur would go out and give into his memories while watching the star-wrought sky.

_Once upon a time, he had brought a young boy out beneath this very sky, and shown him the metaphorical celestial storybook. He remembered his pride, his affection for the boy._

Now all that remained of that child was a myth, swept away by time. So much time had passed...

In fact, Chiron had been reduced to myth himself.

The gods had dealt with the aching pain and sadness of being forgotten by distancing themselves from mortals _(In their infinite wisdom, they had given up and become content with grumbling about human ignorance and irreverance)_.

However, the supposed myth could not bring himself to leave this world behind, despite the fact it had left him behind. He loved the energy and dedication of humans, he loved how they lived such short lives yet did such great things. Mankind never stopped, never slowed _(as the gods had. How did the Roman Empire fall, hmm?)_. Every day had potential and meaning.

It gave Chiron purpose.

Yet... living amongst mortals had given Chiron mortal feelings and compassion. Where the gods saw a pawn, Chiron saw a child who had stepped up to do great things. Each one was a hero.

He knew this life was dangerous. Chiron had seen countless of these children _(who had seen little to nothing of the wonders in life, yet were worn and bitter)_, each heroes in their own right, be cut down without thought. He had seen horrific wars treated as games between gods, tragedy unfold for entertainment. The pain never dulled.

Chiron truely was a machocist.

He couldn't help but hate the gods, who had abandoned these children, _their own children_, yet expected the _children(!)_ to fight for them. The gods truly never changed, which is what set them apart from mortals. Gods were powerful, yes, but humans were bright, creative, amazing. They were what kept the ever-lofty gods going.

It was when these rebellious thoughts became overwhelming that Chiron would stargaze.

The centuries had wrought changes in the heavens, new stories and new problems.

Much like Chiron himself.

However, the heavens also brought peace with the pain. Chiron could watch and wonder like any other being on the planet, united under the same sky. He could shake off the constant worry of his life. The centaur reminded himself once again that everything didn't rest on his shoulders _(that was Atlas)._

Chiron could find calm and peace, if only for a night. He knew that when you are immortal, keeping yourself at peace was the only way stay a sane as you could be.

All Chiron needed to do was watch the sky and remind himself of his position in the grand scheme of things.

In the grand scheme of things, Chiron would just be another myth.

In the grand scheme of things, this night and this time was insignificant.

In the grand scheme of things, the only eternal thing was the sky.


	2. Annabeth

**As promised!**

_The universe is infuriating in it's infathomability. It goes on forever, yet is ever expanding. There is one, but there may be many. Millions of of galaxies, and billions of stars stretch on endlessly in celestial magnificence throughout the dark embrace of nothingness. Our clueless eyes see only the events of eons long passed, from an incredibly immense distance away.__ To the universe, our world and our existance hold the significance the size of a grain of sand. It holds secrets we can't even see, much less unlock. The universe is the ultimate conundrum._

Annabeth Chase was a child of Athena.

No, she was _the_ child of Athena, to most of the camp. She was the one you went to for anything and everything that required a modicum of intelligence.

As such, she led a _very_ busy life juggling being a leader, friend, warrior, mother, and altogether know-it-all.

So, you see, she didn't get much peace.

Don't worry though, Annabeth wasn't a daughter of Athena for naught.

Ever since she'd arrived at camp, she had climbed up on the roof of her cabin every Thursday night and watched the stars. She wouldn't talk to anyone, wouldn't do anything relating to hyper demigods, wouldn't move even if Kronos himself was invading.

Her campers had learned quickly this was leave-Annabeth-alone-or-she'll-gut-you-like-a-fish time.

That was a perk to being good with a dagger.

Annabeth had always treasured these quiet, peaceful nights were her only time to think when she wasn't being pulled in ten different directions at the same time.

But for the past few weeks, she had found no comfort she usually drew from watching the sky. The stars, before bright and awe-inspiring, were now cold and mocking.

For, as per usual, chief on her mind tonight was Luke. He was always there, popping up in her thoughts when she least expected it. She just couldn't bring herself to let him cut him out.

Everything in this camp reminded her of him, and she couldn't leave. It was like Purgatory, a constant reminder of his betrayal.

She had been the closest to Luke, yet had never suspected that he had sank so deep into hate and bitterness. Some daughter of Athena she was! More like an Aphrodite air-head.

Perhaps worst of all was the fact that even after all he had done, she still believed that he could be saved.

Maybe it was because she couldn't believe the kind, handsome boy that had saved her from monsters was the same one that had tried to destroy everything she held dear. Annabeth couldn't connect her hero to her enemy. Her heart wouldn't let her.

Before she'd been claimed by Athena, she and Luke would do this every Thursday night. Luke would point out constellations, and explain their meanings to Annabeth. Annabeth, in turn, would tell Luke about astronomy, about architecture, about anything. It was their way of sticking together after all they'd been through. When she'd been moved to Athena, she'd missed Luke, but was happy.

She'd thought Luke to be happy, too.

She'd thought, assumed so many things; then Percy had been dragging to the Infirmary, on the brink of death, and had brought her world crashing down around her.

Luke, her Luke, her brother, had betrayed her.

Yet another nail in the coffin for family.

Annabeth sighed. Family was another constant question, one of the many that went unanswered tonight. Was her father really sorry? Did he actually care? Would he welcome her back again?

This train of thought was a constant cycle for Annabeth, and it tortured her. She, the one with all the answers, the know-it-all, was stopped short.

But then, Annabeth mused, certain questions will always be unanswerable.

Sometimes, it was best to leave a mystery to be just that.

A mystery.

The stars, high above, winked at her.


	3. Artemis

**Thanks for all the really sweet reviews! This one might be a little bit like Chiron's but I tried to do it as differently as I could. Artemis is just kind of difficult to write. Anyways, I think the next one will be by Percy. Enjoy!**

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><p><em>If you go out into the wilderness, a place far from civilization, you will see an amazing sight. The Milky Way, our galaxy, bursting through the black sky, and accompanied by hundreds of stars never seen from a city or even a suburb. Light has sundered the dark that was before present everywhere. The glow that constantly lights our cities places a haze over these wonders, keeping thousands of people from ever witnessing it.<em>

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><p>Once upon a time, stars filled the sky. Thousands of them, creating hundreds of different constellations.<p>

Every constellation was a story, a legend.

Artemis had been witness to many of them.

However, now those stories were faded or disappeared.

Much like her family.

Once upon a time, one could gaze up at night and see the galaxy laid across the heavens, a cloud of swirling rose and gold.

However, that time has gone. The mortals' discovery of artificial light lead to a blatant disregard for whether it was night or day. Every dwelling of man was lit, at all hours, creating entire cities of light.

It was this discovery that had destroyed the stories of the sky.

It was man's rush towards the future that had blotted out the past. The irreplacable history, vanished...

The constellations were gone.

She, with all her godly power, could do nothing to bring them back.

Artemis was helpless.

Now only the most prominent constellations, the newer ones, remained. It was scant few compared to the glorious visage that was before.

Now even she, the brilliant moon, the once-spotlight of the night, was dimmed by this hideous pollution of the dark.

Man had simply stopped caring, stopped wondering somewhere along the way. Their attention, which had once lay in tales and song, now lay in crude "movies" and "computers".

Artemis did not even know if the newest generation knew what they were missing. They had lost their curiosity, their motivation.

Man was content with where it was, and wanted to go no further.

Perhaps this was similar to the why no one believed in the gods anymore.

They were too trusting in themselves; the mortals thought that they were the gods now.

Artemis had seen that happen many times in different civilizations; each one had fallen to disaster.

Mankind was stumbling blindly down a dangerous path of hubris, one that ended in self-destruction.

Was it not enough that they had poisoned the world with their ignorance?

Was it not enough that they had to pollute the air, the water, the earth, but why taint the only time of peace? Why tarnish the quiet and soothing night?

Why did they have to attack Artemis's home?

Each night, the sky grew dimmer...

It was Artemis's eternal lot to watch silently, as night by night, as the skies were destroyed.

It destroyed her.


	4. Grover Act I

**Grover is actually going to have two parts in this story. I won't tell you when the next one is, but I will tell you this: it will be considerably happier. Now, my eyes are drifting shut even as I write this, so I'll make my pleasantries quick. Don't own the Greek myths, any crude parodies of them, or PJO (which does _not_ fall under the crude parody category.**)

Grover lay upon the soiled earth, gazing at a blood-stained sky. His too-sensitive nose twitched at the continuous cycle of disgusting scents wafting towards him from the still, lifeless forest.

It didn't hurt so much to think about it now; not when he had already seen the worst crime committed knowingly by humans. He wasn't sure which what disgusted and saddened him most: the fact that mankind willingly destroyed their only planet, or that they didn't care enough to notice.

Grover could feel the decay in the air.

It stuck to his lungs and whispered in his head. _Where is your precious Wild now, little satyr? Where will you go when I finally destroy the last of your sanctuaries, when the world has died? Where will you go, little satyr?_

His world was cruel, vicious, all-consuming.

Yet Grover knew no other.

It had always been this way for Grover. He was young, far too young, to remember a time before mankind's desecration had reached it's peak. He had never been able to get 'temporary leave', like the other satyrs, in order to enjoy the last scraps of the Wild left before they, too, were lost to the insatiable hunger of the human race.

Was it possible to long for something you've never had?

Oh, but Grover wanted that something _so badly._ He could see it all around him, in the spark that the elders' eyes held while talking about the once-upon-a-time, in the graceful beauty of the nymphs; it's ghost was even present in this dull, sad wood.

Grover knew that Chiron and the Council thought his longing to find Pan was due to a need to prove himself, to be a hero, but that wasn't true.

Grover wanted to find Pan so he could bring back the Wild.

As a young satyr, he had listened at his father's side to the elders' accounts of the old times; times where entire forests and valleys hadn't been sullied by human contact. A time where fiercly shining sun stood bold against the blue-white sky, and where the night displayed the glorious expanse of the galaxy to anyone who would look.

That was a time when Pan had walked freely amongst his satyrs.

Then was the true Golden Age, where man and god had been at peace, where myth and legend ruled the land, where the world had been full of energy and magic. In that time, satyr could cross a country without being troubled. In that time, a simple growth song that would in present-day increase a fruit's growth rate by double, ancient satyrs could achieve _four times_ the results on _eight times_ the size.

The very earth was drenched with power.

Now the world felt drained, empty.

It was as if the very light of the world had gone out.

Grover thought- no, he _knew_ that Pan was the only way to fix this.

He was the _god of the Wild_, and if he couldn't do it than no one could. And if no one could do it... But no. He _was_ retrieving Pan.

Yes, Pan was the key to bringing back the Wild. Grover was going to find him, Council permission or no.

Grover _was_ going to save the Wild, and no one was going to stop him.

A single star shone out bright and steady in the scarlet night.


End file.
